1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to opening files in a computer system. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for opening files using applications in a virtualized environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Files in computer systems generally have an associated file extension that may be further associated with an application to be used to open the file. For example, when a common user action such as a double-click is performed on a file, the file's extension may be used to identify a previously associated application to be launched and then used to open the file. If a file's extension is not associated with an application, a user may be prompted to select or browse for an application to be used to open the file.
Unfortunately, in virtualized environments, even though an application may be associated with a file in one virtual environment, the association may not be known to other virtual environments or to the physical operating system environment. Consequently, even though a user may have access to an associated application for a particular file extension type, if the user attempts to open the file in the physical operating system environment, the user may be presented with an unfamiliar and daunting set of options. Accordingly, what is needed are systems and methods of handling file extensions and their associations in virtualized environments that minimize changes to the expected user experience.